A blog of political positions and thoughts, from a liberal who evolved into a moderate, and who keeps on evolving. Open-minded analysis. Plain writing. Occasional profanity.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

The power of football players

Who knew that college football players had so much latent power? The players at the University of Missouri just deposed the president of the college. It seems that he wasn't proactive enough about racial incidents, and the mostly black football squad exercised some collective bargaining power against him. Good for them.

The racial balance at the university does sound pretty awful, with very few black faculty and staff. The black students have been organizing heavily this fall (as discussed in this fascinating interview), but the knock-out was from the football team. They refused to practice or play until the president resigned. That gave the president a very short timeline--less than a week until the team defaulted on a game this upcoming weekend and the university faced a $1 million fine.

I do wonder what football players here and elsewhere will do next. I hope they use their power wisely. I hope other football teams also use their power wisely. However it's beyond my ability to predict, so of course I can't wait to see.

Image: ktrs.com

Extra. Maybe this issue deserves its own post, but I'm not sure. The students (with faculty provocateurs) forced journalists out of the center of campus, asserting their right to deny other people's rights. How quickly revolutions turn to tyranny--one day in this case. Be sure to watch the entire video. Note the faculty member who is ordering journalists out. Also note all the sheep doing her bidding. It's instructive.

By the way, this is my advice to the journalists: Sit down. Then they can't push you. They have to step over, on, or around you, and it's on them if you get hurt.

The aftermath: praise for the journalists, hasty 'apology' from the tyrannical faculty provocateur.

1 comment:

Dangerous
said...

I guarantee that based on this incident, the scholarship contracts they sign in the future will have iron-clad repayment provisions if they try to do anything like this again. There will probably be liquidated damages and seizure of parental assets as well (although I doubt they can enforce it or collect) to prevent exactly this prospective use of their power.

History has shown repeatedly that when minorities use what little power they have to impact policy to the detriment of the powerful, the powerful use the law or brute force to get what they want.

There's a scene in the movie Any Given Sunday between Jamie Foxx and Al Pacino which pretty much tells it like it is. They want to use their black athletes to win and make money, but keeping them in their place is the first priority. Sad but true.